Quote:
Originally Posted by Exhibitman
In 1960 Burdick wrote that a card collection is "a magic carpet that takes you away from work-a-day cares to havens of relaxing quietude where you can relive the pleasures and adventures of a past day—brought to life in vivid picture and prose."
Card collecting isn't just about nostalgia for our own experiences, it is about a personality type that revels in old things and the continuum of history, that connects in a metaphysical sense with whatever inhabits old objects, that finds peace in the existence, the survival of a scrap of cardboard for a century or more, despite the way the world has changed. We collect because we are driven to it, just as an artist is driven to create art, a performer is driven to take to the stage. I saw Paul Rodriguez at an open mic, Jay Leno doing a set at a small club, not because they have to but because they need to.
Terence Mann : Ray, people will come Ray. They'll come to card shows for reasons they can't even fathom. They'll turn up the driveway not knowing for sure why they're doing it. They'll arrive at the door as innocent as children, longing for the past. Of course, we won't mind if you buy a Ruth, you'll say. It's only $20,000 per person. They'll pass over the money without even thinking about it: for it is money they have and peace they lack. And they'll walk out to the food court; sit in shirtsleeves on a perfect afternoon. They'll find they have an overpriced hot dog and soda somewhere along one of the aisles, where they sit dressed like children and look at baseball cards. And they'll read the cards and it'll be as if they dipped themselves in magic waters. The memories will be so thick they'll have to brush them away from their faces. Collectors will come Ray. The one constant through all the years, Ray, has been cards. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It has been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt and erased again. But card collecting has marked the time. This cardboard, this hobby: it's a part of our past, Ray. It reminds of us of all that once was good and it could be again. Oh... collectors will come Ray. Collectors will most definitely come.
Or we'll all decide this is gigantic waste of time and we need to get a life, and burn the crap for warmth... |
Very few things survive in our culture, and old things or ways of life are forgotten on a grand scale. Lives change, cultures change, and so do things that are old. I can guarantee what my dad thought was old and worthy of collecting, his grandkids and great grandkids will have absolutely no interest in preserving.
I was always waiting for grandkids so I could pass down my love for vintage cars. Well I have 4 grandkids, all under the age of 5. The problem now for me is what can I pass down to them? I was hoping to build each of them a classic of some sort that fit their own personality. Problem being vintage cars may not be allowed on our streets by that time nor can I afford them at going rate. How many people will preserve something that no longer can be used that once had value, but no longer will. Time changes much of what we don't think will ever change.